


Silvertongue

by starling



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Asgard, Gen, Post Avengers Asgard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-14
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-29 06:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starling/pseuds/starling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is entirely possible for Loki to be redeemed in Asgard’s eyes almost instantly, if he plays his cards right. (He won't, of course, but this is how he quite easily could.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silvertongue

Loki stands upright, to face the assembled council of Odin and his court - a farce: as if anyone but Odin had any measure of power here.  The combination of monarchy and immortality is a dangerous one, and Heimdall’s all-seeing eyes have been effective in wiping out all dissent.  Loki intends to play the crowd, of course, but it is Odin who he must convince.  The court are assembled, perhaps, to lend some semblance of legitimacy to the proceedings - there was talk, after Thor's exile, which must have hurt Odin's ego more than his position.

“When I fell from the Bifrost, I intended to die,” Loki begins, and Odin silences the whisperings that erupt from the crowd with a wave of his hand.  Evidently, the circumstances of his ‘death’ were not made public.  Loki doesn’t imagine anybody would have troubled to ask, and he tries not to be bothered by it.

“As you can see, it didn’t quite go according to plan.”  Scattered laughter.  He wonders how many of these people wish he'd been successful, and dismisses the thought.  No, he’s decided - he wants to  _live_.  ”I drifted through space, and I saw its wonders and its horrors, and I came to know the darkest corners of the universe.  Then they found me.  The Chitauri.”  The tension is palpable, the silence absolute.  They sit on the edges of their seats, and Loki will give them the theatre they are after.  

“They wanted me to conquer Asgard in their name, and I refused.  For months, I endured vicious torture, and yet I held out.  I thought - I had planned to die.  What right had I to sell out Asgard to save my own skin?”

Murmurs of approval - this rhetoric of courage and  self-sacrifice is working wonders.  Loki felt them turning turning towards him, and was pleased - they didn’t call him Silvertongue for nothing.  Odin still looked sceptical, but he was not finished yet.

“And yet I could not hold out forever.  Besides which, they were beginning to believe I would never give in, and they were planning to take Asgard without me.  I had to do something.  

“So I told them that they had won, that I would help them.  I told them of Earth, that it was easy pickings, and far less well defended than Asgard.  I told them that it would make a good base from which to conquer the universe. 

“I lied, of course.  The humans are more resourceful than you imagine - as my brother can attest.  Time drives onward fast for them, and they achieve much in their short lives.  I knew that they would defeat the Chitauri.  They sent one of their most powerful weapons up through a portal, and destroyed the Chitauri army.  The Chitauri are no longer a threat.

“While on Earth, you’ll note that I also recovered the Tesseract.  The humans have passed it between each other for centuries, with little idea of what to do with it, and only recently began using it to develop terrible weapons.  I think it’s best that it stays out of their hands, lest they too become a true threat.  They are not fond of me - nor, I think, Asgard.  They are no longer inclined to worship us as gods, after Thor’s banishment to Earth, and I recommend we leave them well alone.

“And that is all there is to tell.”

Loki bows to the assembled gods, and a woman at the back whom he does not recognise began to clap.  Soon everybody there is on their feet applauding, and Loki smiles to see that the scowl that has marked Thor’s face since Loki’s restraints were removed has deepened.  Sure, Thor is fond of the humans, but he will forget in time - Loki only killed one of his favourites, and in the general scheme of things there was no harm done.  Odin, already, has a shadow of a smile across his face - at Loki’s skill in speaking, if nothing else.  This explanation - one of loyalty, but also of cunning and deceit - has pleased the king.

 

Loki is accepted back into the fold, then.  The applause will fade, the sneering dismissals will return, Thor will be there with proud exuberance and violence and stupidity.  He hasn’t yet decided, if he will betray Asgard in the end or merely wait for it to destroy itself.  He doesn’t have to decide yet, because now he’s back among those who call themselves his family, and he has eternity to make the decision.

 


End file.
